Dancing Flame
by HeartAngel1796
Summary: Warm colors are not all that makes fire beautiful. It's also how it moves. The air of the wind moves beautifully as well, and fuels this fire and brings it to life. RaiKim Romance.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own any of Xiaolin Showdown or any of it's awesome characters. (Although, my OC(s) for this story are mine) This is my first story, so be honest but please be nice.**

* * *

"PLEEEEEEEASSE?" Omi begged on his knees to his tall, Brazilian friend.

"Omi, I said no! We've been training all morning and when Master Fung gives us a break I like to not spend it doing more training," Raimundo said back to his small, monk friend. Getting annoyed, he tries to block him out by leaning up on a post by the stairs outside the temple building with his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Clay sits not too far away on that porch connected to those stairs with Kimiko by him searching on her laptop.

"But Raimundo, I wish to very much help you with your attacks. If I recall our earlier training, your foot work was most sloppy. You looked as though you were prancing with too many toes," Omi said wagging a finger towards Raimundo. Rai annoyed, opened his eyes and rolled them with a sigh and sat up on the step.

"I think you mean dancing with two left feet, Omi," Kimiko called over to them on the stairs.

"Either saying is accurate to how you move," Clay stated standing up and walking over to the stairs and sitting down. Rai looked at them both with irritation growing in him.

"Excuse me? This is the Dragon of the Wind you're talking about. Of course I can move," Rai said defensively back to his friends.

"Yeah, you can move," Kimiko said from behind Rai with her laptop in hands. "Move aside and let me sit down." Clay and Omi chuckled slightly at her pun. Rai stood up in a huff and walked down the small length of stairs to the grounds of the training yard. Kimiko sat down in his former spot on the top step placing her laptop back on the tops of her legs. Rai groaned as he stepped further away from the stairs and stopped a few feet away with his back to his fellow monks. Kimiko noticed he wasn't just annoyed now, he was slouched over with his fists clenched slightly but she could tell he was mad about what they said. Kimiko respected Raimundo too much to not try to apologize. "Rai?" Kimiko tried to get his attention back. He turned to look over his shoulder at her with a blank expression on his face but irritation in his emerald eyes. "Rai, we were just joking," she said tilting her laptop scene down half way. "You are the Dragon of the Wind, if you can't move then the air itself may as well have no breeze at all," He smirked brightly at this compliment and she smiled back knowing he wasn't mad anymore. At least until the other two started talking again.

"I'm sorry too Rai, in a fight you're faster then a Kansas tornado. But I've see you square dance partner, and those kinds of moves are just sad," Clay stated at first to apologize but quickly turned into another tease. Omi giggled at this comment as Rai's fetchers shifted back to frustration.

"Oh, so now you're saying I can't dance?!" Raimundo hollered louder then necessary to get the monk's full attention. All three of them looked at their leader with shock that he was raising his voice like that. Rai turned his head away quickly, feeling shame for blowing this out of proportion.

"Can you dance Rai?" Kimiko asked with growing interest and curiosity. Rai looked back at them, took a deep breath and walked back over to the first stair. Before Kimiko could protest or react at all, Raimundo snatched her laptop out of her grasp, sat down on the bottom step and started typing something into the search bar. "Rai, what are you…"

"Just watch," Rai cuts her off and clicks the play button to a video titled _'Rio de Janeiro New Year's, Young Persons Dance Competition.'_ The three monks all leaned in to see the screen better. The video showed a big stage with a purple curtain draped across it, and suddenly a faceless announcer's heavy accented voice came on.

"_And now, dancing the Salsa, all the way from the great state of Sao Paulo, Franciscka Barros, and her partner, local of Rio, Raimundo Pedrosa!" _The three monks gave small gasps as they heard the name of their leader and the purple curtain rose to revile a younger Rai on stage with a girl roughly his age in a sparkly dress. Kimiko gave Rai a quick look but his attention was only on the clip. As music started to play from the laptop, Kimiko looked back to the screen and watched as the two tweens danced.

As all four monks watched, the Dragons of Earth, Water, and Fire never blinked. Rai's movements were not only breathtakingly pleasing to the eye, but they looked so natural. He danced like his bones and flesh were light air under his skin, but at the same time he was strong and locked with his partner amazingly well. The girl named Franciscka was wonderful too. Her presence and form on stage held not only beauty, but also showed experience and refinement. She and Raimundo dominated that stage like they owned it. They ruled over the stage with their Salsa.

But as Kimiko watched their dance grow more intense and Rai and his hands moved more and more all over his partner, she felt a sting of jealously burn in the sides of her mind. Kimiko realized this and shook her head to snap it out of her. 'Why should I feel jealous?' she though. 'Just because some over glittered, toe-tapping tramp is throwing her self all over Rai with no objections from him?' Kimiko realized what she just asked herself and sighed in her mind. 'Their doing a Salsa, of course they're supposed to be touching each other like that. And how could you call that girl a tramp? You don't know her,' Kimiko badgered herself. 'So why am a still upset?'

Kimiko was pulled back from her thoughts as their dance concluded with a one arm spin and dip. The giant audience in the video erupted in applause as Raimundo and Franciscka stood tall center stage with their fingers intertwined with each others held high above their heads and they both took a bow. As they raised their heads, the screen showed their huge grins as the video's time ran out. Raimundo immediately slapped the laptop closed and turned where he sat to put it back in Kimiko's hands. He immediately got back to his feet with his arms crossed and stared at his dumbfounded friends for a few seconds.

"I accept my apologizes verbally spoken or in writing," he stated darkly with a bit of sarcastic pride buried deep but with a light frown. The other three monks looked at each other still shocked for a few seconds more, then Clay gave a big grin, stood up and started to clap loudly. Omi then looked back to Raimundo, stood and began to clap as well. Kimiko giggled, placed her laptop on the porch, stood and also began to clap. Raimundo unfolded his arms and just stared at his friends applauding him. Clay even also gave a two fingered whistle between his clapping. Rai could see what they were trying to say and smiled. He then stuck his right hand to his lower back and raised his left arm high above his head, and bowed with a dramatic flutter of his hand. "Please, you're too kind," Rai said sarcastically flattered as he raised his head back up. As their clapping slowly died down they sat back on the stairs.

"Dang Rai, that was something else," Clay said in a laugh.

"Yes Raimundo, I never thought I would see anything quite as beautiful as ti chi, but still that was a most impressive display," Omi said very excited at this new style. "But what was the point of those moves if you were not fighting that girl?" Omi asked Raimundo curiously and confused.

"It was a dance contest Omi, not a sparring competition," Raimundo explained. "The point is to show off your skills with the person you're on the stage with. Our opponents were the other pairs of dancers not on stage with us. Each pair goes on one at a time while being judged by a few people with professional experience and compares all the dancers to each other to see who's the best and pick winners." Omi still looked puzzled.

"But what were you all being judged on exactly?"

"How we moved, how we and our partner moved together, and how well we did the type of dance we were doing," he replied.

"You mean there are many other different types of those dances that exist?" Omi asked getting more intrigued.

"Yeah, like all those different fighting moves we all learned from Master Fung." Omi smiled still fascinated. Now it was Clay and Kimiko's turn to ask questions.

"So, now that Omi knows what a dance competition is," Kimiko began.

"Maybe you could shed a bit more light on why you were in one?" Clay finished. Raimundo sighed lightly. He knew if he showed them that clip they would want the whole story.

"It was five years ago, only a few months before I left to come here to China," he began as he sat on the ground of the training yard in front of the stairs. "I knew I liked to dance with my friends on the streets, but I was never taught any of those real dances. I heard about the contest but didn't think much of it. I knew those contests wanted to see real dances not free-stylers. Then I met Franciscka. She was in town for the contest and she was looking for a partner. She saw potential in me, taught me how to Salsa and a few other dances for fun, and we were good to go," Rai smiled remembering his old friend. Kimiko noticed this look and some of the sting came back. Clay's outburst distracted her from it for a second.

"Did you guys win?" Clay asked with anticipation. Raimundo gave a weak smile.

"We placed for third. A small bronze trophy and…" Raimundo hesitated for a second before continuing. Kimiko noticed this. "…$2,500 in prize money."

"Rai, that's awesome. Third place out of all those other great dancers and $2,500," Kimiko trying to reassure him after noticing his ashamed look.

"There were only 11 groups. And they only gave trophies and cash prizes to the top three pairs. Second was $5,000, and first was $10,000. And Franciscka and I only got moved up to third place because there was a disqualification," he replied still speaking like something was bothering him a bit. "And I wouldn't have had a chance without Franciscka."

"Did you two stay in touch after that day?" Clay asked.

"After she went back to Sao Paulo, we exchanged e-mails for a couple of months, but I had to tell her I couldn't message her too much anymore because I was leaving Brazil," Rai said, still with disappointment somewhere in his voice. Why did he seem so down? Kimiko wanted to know.


	2. Chapter 2

**2 weeks later:**

Clay, Omi, and Kimiko were sitting peacefully at the kitchen table enjoying their breakfast. That is until they heard an all too familiar growl of frustration followed by an alarming smash. All three monks rose from their chairs and dashed out of the room to the source of the sound, which they could tell came from the guy's stared bedroom. Kimiko moved out to have her own room just next door as a 14th birthday present from Master Fung. But the guys still shared that same room together. Clay and Omi entered the room first but Kimiko stood behind, just in the door way. Raimundo was on his knees, using his hand to sweep the shattered remains of a vase into a pile. He didn't even look up.

"Raimundo, what happened?" Omi asked concerned. Raimundo raised his head to look at his friend's puzzled faces.

"I'm sorry guys," Rai forced a small smile, still kneeling, turned so he was frontward facing them. He continued to sweep the vase's dust and shards with his right hand. "Stupid, morning accident I guess." Kimiko tilted her head to see him better passed Omi and Clay. Her eyes went from his beautiful emerald eyes, to the dusty pile of broken pottery, and then to his hands. She gasped under her breath when she saw his left hand he was supporting himself with. His knuckle was scratched up with blood slowly surfacing. Kimiko grabbed the dust pan by the door and pushed past Omi and Clay. She kneeled down across from the Brazilian and started to brush the pile of broken vase into the pan. Rai stopped to watch her, smiled and reached to take the dust broom from her. "It's my mess Kimiko, let me…" Before he could finish his sentence, Kimiko quickly dropped the brush and pan and grabbed Rai's left hand he had reach out with. Kimiko held his hand palm down, and studied his bloody knuckle. Raimundo gave a sigh as he looked at her face's reaction and knew what she was going to say.

"Accident, my ass," Kimiko said dryly not taking her eyes off of his hand. Raimundo frowned and jerked his hand out of her grip.

"I heard a crash, young monks," Master Fung said calmly from the door way with Dojo around his shoulders. Everyone looked to their teacher. "Is everything alright?" Everyone then looked to Raimundo. He gave a heavy sigh.

"Fine," he huffed as he stood up. "I just got a message from my mom back in Rio. You guys remember Franciscka?" They all nodded, including Master Fung and Dojo; Kimiko also showed them the clip of their dance shortly after Rai showed them. "Well, she's in Rio de Janeiro right now looking for a dance partner for another big competition there. She showed up at my house looking for me, but my mom told her I was still away. Then she told my mom more about the contest. And apparently, the first place winners get to perform on top of one of the floats during this year's Carnavale in Rio. But she understood I wasn't available and left." Raimundo looked back down at his left knuckles in disappointment. Kimiko could see how upset he was.

"That sounds might'dy exciting Rai," Clay stated to his friend. Raimundo looked up from his hand.

"My family has gone to see Carnavale live ever since I was a little kid," Raimundo said, a small smile creeping on his lips in remembering. "I thought there was nothing more amazing in the world, except maybe to actually be in the parade itself." Kimiko saw a sparkle in his eyes as he remembered and smiled herself.

"I am most confused," Omi stated, pulling both Raimundo and Kimiko out of their thoughts. "Parades during carnivals? Is this like the circus from your past Raimundo? I thought you disliked it."

"No Omi, Carnavale in Rio de Janeiro has nothing to do with the circus. It's the biggest party in the world. It's a world famous event held in Rio every year before Lent. With giant floats, great music with drums, tons of confetti and glitter, people in crazy and beautiful costumes, and an army of samba dancers marching freely everywhere you look," Raimundo described with excitement and lingering wonder from his childhood. "There are usually only floats for the many samba schools in Rio, but I guess they decided to have a contest to pick who'll dance on top of one of theirs this year." Raimundo looked back at his hand. Kimiko watched as he brought two of his fingers to the scratches. He cringed with a hiss from the stinging of it and Kimiko immediately grabbed it again with both her hands. Raimundo looked down at her with gentle eyes. She wasn't looking back but that just meant he could stare all he wanted and she couldn't tell.

"Perhaps you should get that wrapped up Raimundo," Master Fung suggested from the door way.

"I'll do it Master Fung," Kimiko said looking over to him with out removing her hands from Raimundo's. Master Fung watched as the two walked out and down the hall and a smile came upon his face at an idea.

* * *

In the medical room, Raimundo sat on one of the cots as Kimiko rummaged through the cabinets for disinfectant and bandages. When she found everything she needed, she walked over to the bed and sat right next to Raimundo and faced him. They both said nothing as he stuck his hand out to her and she began to clean the wound, then began to wrap a roll of cloth around his knuckles.

As she wrapped the cloth, the Dragon of Fire could only think and assume what her best friend was thinking. 'Raimundo must be more upset then I thought. He hears he's missed his chance to be in a huge dance competition and to possibly be part of the biggest event in his hometown. And he misses his little Salsa friend. I bet he punched that vase into the wall as soon as he learned that Franciscka girl was looking for a partner and he knew he wasn't there to say yes.' Kimiko's thought irritated her as she pulled the bandage tight.

"Oww," Raimundo cried softly pulling his hand away. This also pulled Kimiko out of her thoughts and looked to her best friend, thinking she hurt him "That's a little tight there Kim."

"Sorry Rai," she said, grabbing his hand again to finish wrapping it up.

"It's fine." Kimiko finished and took her hands away from Raimundo's so he could flex his hand to feel it was comfortable. She looked at him once again taking in how cute he looked in this state of being, even though she could very well tell he was still upset. It might hurt her to ask and hear the answer, but her curiosity of the whole thing was too great.

"Rai, are you that upset about missing out on the parade?" Raimundo looked at her and gave a weak smile seeing her concern.

"Nah. I've missed the parades before. It's just, the contest and the chance to be in the parade is something I've always dreamed of," Raimundo said in wonder with a bit of sad still in his eyes.

"And Franciscka?" Raimundo immediately looked back to his best friend with full attention.

"Yeah, I miss her too. And I feel bad that she was counting on me to be in Rio for the contest and be her partner. Literally, the last thing I said to her before she left Rio after the last contest was, 'If you're ever in town again for a dance competition, you know where to find me.' Now she has to go find herself someone else. I just feel like I let her down, you know?" Raimundo beat himself with his words. The sting came back to Kimiko's brain for a second, but she pushed it to the back and gently placed a hand on the wind dragon's bandaged knuckle. His eyes looked back and met her sapphire ones.

"Rai, she said she understands. Plus you're my best friend, and I know you could never let anyone down," Kimiko said with a smile and Raimundo smiled back. She quickly removed her hand with a hint of pink creeping on her checks and stood up. "Come on, our training session was supposed to have started a while ago." Raimundo nodded in agreement, stood and followed her out of the medical room and outside.

* * *

When they reached the training yard, they only saw their other fellow dragons sparring.

"Hey," Raimundo hollered over to his cowboy and cheese ball shaped friends as he and Kimiko walked up to them. "Where's Master Fung?"

"He left on Dojo not too long ago," Clay said, dropping his fighting stance.

"Yes, and he instructed us to practice our sparring with out any Shen Gong Wu or the use of our elements until he returns later this afternoon," Omi finished.

"Where did he go?" Kimiko asked.

"He didn't say. Just something he had to take care of I suppose," Clay responded starting to knack his knuckles, a wicked smile starting to form on his lips. "Now lets get to it, I've been itch' in to scrap all morning." All the other monks gave fierce grins back and took their fighting stances.

* * *

All morning into late in the afternoon, the monks continued with multiple sparring matches with each other. It was Clay and Omi's turns to spare, so the two remaining monks stood to the side and just watched. Although, every so often, Kimiko glanced back up at her tall, Brazilian friend. He was smiling while watching his friends but she could still see it in his emerald green eyes that he was still upset. She wanted to help him. In any way she could. She hated it when he was upset or angry, and she hated herself more when she couldn't do anything about it. But maybe she could. Kimiko opened her mouth to ask Raimundo something but no words came out. Instead, they came from Omi.

"Raimundo," the small monk called over annoyed. "Could you please come over and demonstrate for Clay the proper form of Spider Doing Hocky-Pocky?!" Raimundo shrugged with a small sigh and walked over to take Clay's place. Kimiko pouted that she missed her chance to talk to her bummed out friend. She stood their and watched as Raimundo talked their Texan friend through the move. Clay then tried to attempt it himself but once again messed up the form. Rai lightly squeezed the bridge of his nose.

"I'm sorry Rai, I just ante get' in it," Clay turned back to his leader. "Maybe you should just show me."

"If you insist," Raimundo sighed again, stepping into the sparring circle and in front of Omi. They both bowed and commenced the fight. Omi attacked first.

"Monkey Strike!"

"Spider Doing Hocky-Pocky!" Raimundo maneuvered around Omi as he attacked and avoided his Monkey Strike. And in doing so, also struck him and the young monk plopped to the ground while Raimundo landed gracefully on his feet and dusted himself off.

"Well hello Mr. Twinkle-Toes, still light on your feet as ever I see," a voice rang into the yard. Raimundo paused with a shock and thought for a moment.

"There's only one person in the whole world who calls me that," he said slowly to himself, dumbfounded. Raimundo turned to the front gate to see his suspicions correct. The others looked over as well. Kimiko's chest fell and the sting was back.


	3. Chapter 3

"Franciscka?" Raimundo exclaimed with a huge grin.

"Raimundo!" the girl at the front gate exclaimed in response. Raimundo gave a laugh in a breath and started to run towards her and she dropped her bags. When they were close enough, he picked her up and spun her around in a hug.

As the other dragons watched this encounter, both Omi and Clay smiled, intrigued by the scene. But Kimiko. All she could do was stare, her jaw slightly dropped open. 'She was here? At the temple?! This oh-so amazing friend of Rai's from that contest years ago! But why? How did she even…' Before Kimiko could finish her own thought, Master Fung accompanied by Dojo walked through the gate and stood by the two Brazilian, old friends still hugging. As their hug broke, the other two young male monks started to walk towards them and their teacher. Kimiko wasn't too thrilled about meeting this girl, but she sucked it up, not wanting to seem rude, and walked over to the others as well.

"Rai, when your mom said you were away at some special school I didn't think it was this special!" Franciscka exclaimed looking all around her. "I mean, I was flown here on a dragon for God sakes!" Raimundo laughed at his old friend's excitement.

"Franciscka, it's so great to see you again," Raimundo said, still smiling brightly. He couldn't believe what five years did to her. She was always a fairly cute girl, but now she was a beautiful young woman. Her hair was longer then he remembered it to be, taller by at least 3 inches or more, and the primal male in him couldn't help but also notice that her bust had gained more to it as well.

A cough broke the silence of him studying his old friend's new appearance. He turned to the source, his cowboy companion, with a smiling round-headed monk and a cross-armed Japanese girl to his sides. "Oh, yeah, Franciscka these are my friends. The other monks I've been training with," he said to their guest and gestured her to his fellow monks. "This is Omi, Clay Bailey, and Kimiko Tohomiko." Omi smiled big and waved to her as he was introduced, Clay smirked and tipped his hat with a gentle 'howdy' at his name, and Kimiko just stood there and replied with a simple 'hi'. "Guys you remember Franciscka Barros from that clip I showed you not to long ago, right?" They all nodded, happy to finally meet this amazing dancer and old friend of Raimundo's. Well, not all of them.

"You showed them that video of us dancing at that contest five years ago?"

"No, I just showed them only about two weeks back," Raimundo joked, earning a light giggle from the foreign girl. Kimiko found this funny too, but didn't show it at all. "But never mind that, what are you doing here in China? You should be in Rio practicing for the contest." The tan girl just gave an excited and toothy grin. She then let out a laugh to match the look on her face before she responded.

"Well, after your mom told me you weren't around to be in the contest, I was upset," she started to explain, her smile softly shifting to a plain face. "I went around town to look for a new partner, but nobody stood out to me. A few hours later, I got tired and I stopped for some lunch. I thought I was never going to find someone. Then my cell phone rag. It was your house, so I answered it. It was your mom telling me to come back because she said there was someone there who could help me," she said, the big smile returning with the last few words of her sentence. Raimundo looked at his old friend and thought, 'someone who could help her?' As he thought this, his teacher stepped up right behind her, and he figured it out.

"Master Fung?"

"Yes Raimundo, I went to your house in Rio and told your mother how upset you were about not being home for this special event. Then I asked if she knew how to contact this old partner of yours so I could speak with her," he said, smiling down at the new girl. She smiled back. "Your mother immediately gave her a call and told her to come back to your house. She was there about half an hour later, I explained who I was with the help of your mother, and we made an arrangement." Raimundo, with growing anticipation for them to get to the point, looked back from the old man to his friend from Sao Paulo.

"You and I are do'in the contest next month!"

"Really?"

"Really Raimundo," the excited wind dragon looked back to his teacher. "But even though I'm allowing this as your mentor, it can't interfere with your duties as a Xiaolin monk."

"Yeah, so your master is letting me stay here at the temple with you so we can practice, then go back to Rio for the competition. And if we win, back for CARNAVALE!" Franciscka exclaimed, giving a shimmy of her shoulders to Rai as he also exclaimed his excitement to the sky. The two once again, jumped into each others arms in a joyful hug.

Kimiko looked at him strongly. He's eyes lit up like the stars above Monte Carlo. The upset and despairing look from earlier was gone; and yet after their hug broke, she still saw a bit of uncertainty. And still she looked and wondered, 'What makes this girl so special in his eyes?' She continued to stare as her best friend lead his 'oh-so special' friend from his past, to the temple to show her her guest quarters. And as everyone else around her also made their way back inside, she then also asked, 'What makes _me_ so special in his eyes?' Really?

* * *

Kimiko laid awake with her eyes closed as she tried to put her troubled mind at ease enough to sleep. But all she could think of was Raimundo and Franciscka from dinner. No one else spoke the whole meal. Clay and Omi only looked back and forth from their plates to their leader and his pretty, old friend while they discussed what dance they would do for the upcoming contest. Kimiko on the other hand, only focused on her food and did her best to block their 'delightful' conversation out. As she tried to not remember that event, what did stand out in her mind was the names of some of the dances they mentioned they might do. On that thought, Kimiko knew she wasn't going to sleep that night at all if she didn't try to clear her head the best way she knew how.

A minute later, the Dragon of Fire was out of her pajamas and back in her robes, also wearing her favorite flexible flat shoes, and she was standing tall in the small courtyard by the gardens. Ballet, jive, the tango, the waltz, samba, even contemporary dance, all dances she remembered from small classes she took years ago back in Tokyo. She remembered all the basic steps, but she had never actually performed them to even just herself in years. But needing to clear her mind, and back then this was the best way she knew how. She took a stance and began to move her body as it wanted to.

Kimiko knew she loved to dance all her life. Which is why her father let her take as many dance classes she wanted and he would agree to. And she learned a lot from the classes, but the Dragon of Fire is a natural talent when it comes to dancing. Kimiko always preferred to dance her way, but now she was grateful to her papa for sending her to those classes for real dances. Earlier that day, after she had bandaged Raimundo's hand and they were sparring all afternoon, she thought that if Rai still wanted to be in the contest and he obviously needed a partner maybe, if Master Fung would let them, she could be his partner and they could enter the competition together. And maybe if they won, they could all go to Carnavale together, with all their friends watching while she and her Rai rocked the top of that float with their amazing dancing.

She was about to ask him this but then 'she' showed up out of nowhere and stole him back. Kimiko stopped in her tracks from her dance as she remembered exactly why she was so upset.

'Wind and Fire are complementary elements. Fire moves beautifully alone, but even more so with the gentle wind guiding it and helping it grow stronger.' Master Fung told them this one lesson when they were learning more about how to use their elements. And ever since, Kimiko knew, she could feel that there is or could be someday, something more to her and Raimundo. Often times he showed he knew this too, but more often he was just her cocky, prankster best friend. 'Did he still feel that was true?' she thought as she just stood there. 'If he did, he would have thought of me to be his partner before he said yes to Miss Sao Paulo.' Kimiko thought bitterly, clenching her fists and a hot tear of frustration even escaped her eye. She quickly wiped it away and stomped quietly back to her own room.

* * *

The next morning, Kimiko woke up and hoped that the events of yesterday with their new guest were just a pesky dream. But upon entering the kitchen, she was disappointed to see that girl sitting at the table laughing like an idiot with the Dragon of the Wind right next to her. Clay was at the stove flipping pancakes and frying up beacon stripes, Omi on the opposite counter end squeezing oranges into a pitcher.

Like when Miss Barros first arrived at the temple, Kimiko was in no way eager to go over to her and talk. But Raimundo looked up and noticed her presence before she could ever think of what else she could do to get out of this with out seeming impolite.

"Morning Kim," the Brazilian boy greeted warmly.

"Morning Rai," she said back, immediately looking from his face to the Brazilian girl's. "And good morning to you Franciscka," as she said that, Kimiko sat at the seat across from the two of them, but still slightly closer to Rai's seat, trying her best to smile honestly. "I hope you slept OK on the mats we have here. It took all of us months to get used to them enough to even get a wink of sleep," Kimiko tried to joke to her. Even if she and Rai do have something, there's no reason she can't try to be friendly to this girl; at least not yet. Maybe she could be a good friend.

"Oh, they weren't that bad. I've got a strong back," Franciscka replied brightly.

"Do you now?" Clay stepped in to the conversation, sitting down between the two girls, placing a tall plate of pancakes and a platter of bacon on the table. "With the way we do things 'round here, that's a good thing." Clay began helping himself to his own cooking while Omi followed, sitting to the other side of Franciscka with his pitcher and immediately started pouring into the glasses.

"Oh yes, I strong body is most important for a Xiaolin warrior. Or for just a lovely dancer such as you are," Omi said, offering her the first glass of orange juice. Franciscka smiled and accepted the glass.

"Thank you, for the complement and the juice," she replied taking a big sip.

Everyone then also proceeded to load their plates with breakfast and started to eat. Although after every bit she took, the Dragon of Fire looked back up to glance at their Brazilian new comer and the one she's know for years. Kimiko also looked down at the girl's plate and saw she was only eating the pancakes. Deep down, Kimiko wished she didn't have to get to know this girl, but as long as she was here, Franciscka was a guest and a friend. Or at least a friend to a friend.

"No bacon?" Kimiko asked from out of the blue. Everyone looked up from their plates and back to Kimiko.

"Oh, yeah," Franciscka responded when she realized the Japanese girl meant her. "I'm a vegetarian." Everyone at the table looked surprised. Mostly Clay. And even Raimundo.

"Since when are you a vegetarian?" Rai asked after quickly swallowing the fork full just in his mouth.

"About three years ago. You know I used to love meat and all back then, but these days it isn't really agreeing with me anymore. So, I decided to play it safe and cut at least red meat out of my diet," the dancer explained somewhat uncomfortably and took another bit of her flapjacks.

"Meat makes you sick?" Rai asked.

"Stomach pain so bad I can hardly move," she stated threw a small mouth full. "And since I'm a dancer, I can't afford that risk," she says the last part after swallowing.

"That was a most wise decision my new friend," Omi said from her right. "I myself do not eat meat and it is a more healthy lifestyle."

"Where as Clay here can't go a meal without at least a bit of the stuff," Rai stated with a grin earning a light laugh from the table.

"Comes from growin' up on a beef ranch," Clay stated proudly, shoving a whole stripe of bacon into him mouth.

"Kids! Kids!" Dojo yelled, running into the kitchen and hopping onto the table. "We got a hot Shen Gong Wu active! We gotta go, now!" Everyone quickly got up and started for the door, all except Franciscka who stayed in her seat confused.

"You gotta go to a what now?" she hollered after them. Rai stopped at the door way while the others went back to their room to change. The Shoku warrior looked back to the dragon on the table.

"Master Fung said her staying here can't interfere with your duties as a Xaiolin monk or a Shoku leader," the small dragon said sternly, hopping off the table.


	4. Chapter 4

**So sorry this is a little late, it took me forever to get through the Wu hunt part.**

* * *

Minutes later, Clay, Omi, and Kimiko were waiting in the courtyard for their ride. Growing impatient, Kimiko pulled the scroll of the Sheng Gong Wu out of her back pack.

"So what's the Wu this time?" Clay asked, walking over to look over her shoulder as she opened the scroll and Omi did the same.

"It's called the Jar of Illusions." Dojo pops out of nowhere, startling them all, and takes a seat on top of Omi's head as he looks at the scroll too. The moving illustration showed a man with a palm sized jar in his hands. "When you activate it and open it, it releases a misty fog that can take the shape of anything, or even anyone, the possessor wants. They can also control what the illusion does and says." They watched as the man on the scroll opens the jar and a puff of fog rose out and transformed into a large bear, it also showed a group of warriors with weapons approach the man, and the bear scarred all the warriors away. After the scroll's demonstration was finished, Kimiko immediately rolls the scroll back up.

"That could be most useful in battle," Omi says intrigued.

"Yeah it can, but there's a catch," Dojo stated holding up a finger to pause. "Since they're just illusions made of mist, their not real. So if you try to touch them or disturb them with anything, they'll dissolve, turn back into mist and go back into the Sheng Gong Wu. And that will also happen when you put the lid back on and close it up."

"So, it's like an avatar in a video game that doesn't have extra lives," everyone raised their heads to see their leader approaching with an amused grin and Franciscka by his side. "You guys ready to go?"

"What about her?" Kimiko asked nodding her head towards the Brazilian girl in a sun dress that was about four different shades of purple, right in front of her.

"She's coming with us," Kimiko's eyes widened. "Relax, she's cool with going and I just spoke with Master Fung and he said it was fine."

"Yeah, I promise I won't get in your way," Franciscka reassured.

Omi and Clay shrugged in agreement that they were okay with her tagging along. Kimiko wanted to protest by saying it would be to dangerous for her, when really she just didn't want her to come. Before anything else could be said, Dojo grew and urged everyone on. Omi sits in front as usual, followed by Kimiko, but behind her is not who it usually is. She turns her head around to see Franciscka sitting behind her, followed by Raimundo, and Clay at his spot in the back. As Dojo takes off, Kimiko's inner badgering to herself comes back.

'First Master Fung lets her stay at the temple, and now he's letting her go on Wu hunts with us? She's not even a student.' Kimiko wished she could turn her head again and look back at those two, but she knew her face would reveal how annoyed she was and they'd see it as a glare.

* * *

Dojo and his passengers arrive in the skies of Cuba by early afternoon. They land in a small field by the shore and close to a town.

"Come my friends, we must find that Sheng Gong Wu as quickly as possible," Omi announces as he slides off the shape shifting dragon and immediately starts looking. Everyone else follows him off onto the field as Dojo shrinks down.

"Why the rush? It's a beautiful day and we're in Havana!" Franciscka asks looking toward the town and turns to grab Raimundo's arm in excitement. "Oh Rai, we have to go to one of those dance cafés they have here!" she exclaims shaking Rai's arm like a maraca. Kimiko glares at them and decides to intervene.

"Eh-Hem," Kimiko coughs out to get both their attentions. "We have to rush because we aren't the only ones who hunt Sheng Gong Wu, and if we don't find it first, they will and that will be bad." Kimiko explains to mostly the new girl but also a bit towards her leader to remind him to focus on their job. Raimundo notices the serious, and almost irritated, look on his best friend's face and nods to her to show he understands.

"She's right Franciscka," Rai looks back to his old friend. "We can go sight seeing later; after we find the Wu."

"Okay, but who else would be looking for these Wu anyway?"

"Me!" the warriors only had a second to react to that one word and move before lazar blasts rained down on them. Kimiko and Clay dodged, Omi ran in the opposite direction with Dojo, while Raimundo pulled Franciscka down to the ground with him. Everyone looked to the sky even though they can very well guess who it is already. "Hola Xiaolin losers!" calls the 'self-proclaimed evil-genius', hovering over them with a small army of jack-bots scattered around the rest of the field.

"Jack Spicer, you will not succeed today! The Jar of Illusions is ours!" Omi exclaims with Dojo hinding in the safety of the young monk's robes.

"Unless I find it first, Cheese Ball!" the pale faced goth yells back, pressing a button on his wrist. "Jack-Bots, Attack!" The flying robots all swooped down and continued blasting at the monks, while Jack looked for the Wu.

"Third-Arm Sash, Earth!" Clay plows through several bots with the stony fist of the sash. He then bashes back at a few more coming to keep them away from were Raimundo told Franciscka to hide.

"Orb of Tornami, Ice" Omi blasts back, freezing the tin cans solid and shattering into scrap metal as they fall and hit the ground.

"Eye of Dashi, Fire!" Kimiko fires into the sky, melting them down. However, the Dragon of Fire did not see the robot coming at her from behind and rams her to the ground, letting go of the lightning shooting medallion. But before this bot could finish her off with a single blast, a swift chop lopped it's head clear off and the rest of it fell into the dirt. Kimiko looked up to see the concerned face of Raimundo standing above her as he offered her a hand up.

"You okay girl?" Kimiko grinned back and accepted the hand and he pulled her back up to her feet. Also handed her back the Eye of Dashi.

"I'm fine," she gentle responded, taking the Wu back. "thanks." A few more lazar blasts snapped them back to reality and back into the fight.

As Franciscka watches the action scene from behind the large rock Rai told her to hide behind and stay low, something somewhat shiny caught her eye in the bushes behind her. But as she crawled over and reached for it;

"Not so fast, pretty bird!" Jack hollers, zooming towards her and snatching the jar as she cringes back to the rock as the wind from his hover pack blew in her face. Jack hovers over the spot above her with the jar in his hands as he laughs more idiotically then evilly. Franciscka stares up at him, first a little helplessly but then she grows more certain that she can't let this guy get what he wants. She looks down around her and grabs a small rock.

"Hey mascara boy!" she yells up to him. Jack stops laughing for only a second before her rock collides with his forehead. "No random moron calls me 'pretty bird' without a hit." Jack looks back down at her while clutching his slightly bruising forehead, getting angry but then panics when he realizes he dropped the Wu. Jack scans around the field until he spots it again in the grass. Jack drops from the sky and runs over to the jar, but as his hand touches the lid, so does another hand. He raises his head to meet the determined stare of the Dragon of the Wind.

"Jack, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown!" Rai says, rearing to go.

"Fine, name your game Raimundo," Jack sighed, accepting the call slightly annoyed that he couldn't avoid a showdown for this Wu hunt. But still determined to win. Rai looks up at the sky to see all the jack-bots are gone and destroyed but also notices that it's a fairly cloudy day in Cuba.

"The game is cloud sweeping. First one to clear the most clouds above the field wins, the game ends when there's no more clouds left." Raimundo smiles as he explains his showdown, but Jack smiles just as smug.

"You're on. I wager the Sword of the Storm," the fiery red head pulls out the wind Sheng Gong Wu with the same smug look.

"Alright, in that case I wager the Mantis Flip-Coin," Rai calmly pulls the small Wu from his pocket; little smug looking himself.

"Lets go, XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN!" Both boys yelled as the field is incased by a thick and tall stretching, transparent dome trapping them in along with most of the clouds at the top. The others stood on the rock Franciscka was hiding by during the fight, all in their battle robes and Rai in his in the middle of the field with Jack.

"GONG YI TAMPAI!"

"Sword of the Storm!" Jack activated his Wu and a tornado of intense wind swirled from the blade and blew a dozen or more clouds into nothing. Rai pulled his mask down to expose the rest of his face, still looking even more smug then Jack, then also made his move.

"Mantis Flip-Coin!" Rai thumb tossed the coin and leapt into the domed-over sky, kicking away a large cloud into a puff hard with both feet. As he landed gracefully back to the ground, Jack started to laugh hysterically looking at Rai's still cocky smile.

"Why so smug Raimundo? You picked an air required showdown while I have the all powerful wind Sheng Gong Wu right here!" Jack hollered over still laughing about the absurdity he's seeing in this event.

"Serious Spicer? Did you honestly forget that I don't need that sword to beat you?" Jack stopped laughing to hear him better and looked a bit confused. "I'm not just Raimundo, the Xiaolin Shoku warrior. I'm Raimundo, Xiaolin Dragon of the Wind!" On that exclamation, "Mantis Flip-Coin, Wind!" Rai activated his Wu once more, flipping into the air in a spinning cannon ball position. When he reached the high center of the field, he continued to swirl in that one place. The others looked up and wondered what their leader was doing. As Rai's spinning started to slow down, the wind dragon sprung out of his ball spaced pose and a blast of wind burst from him in all directions, spreading and blowing every last cloud into invisible air. A flash later, the dome was gone, everyone was back in their casual attire, and Rai was standing back in the middle of the field with the Mantis Flip-Coin, Sword of the Storm, and the Jar of Illusions. Everyone jumped off the rock and ran over to their triumphantly standing leader to congratulate him.

"Raimundo, that was truly amazing. You were able to focus your Xiaolin element through a Sheng Gong Wu that was not made to be compatible with wind," Omi battered on a bit confused on how that was possible but still very impressed.

"Eh, it was nothing really," Rai shrugs half modest.

"Yeah, you always say that you big show-off," Franciscka playfully elbows him in the gut with a laugh. Rai laughs back through a sarcastic whine of pain. On the other side of the field, they all see Jack hastily picking up all the bits of broken robot he can carry. He was in so much of a rush he didn't even hear them come over to him. Upon seeing them standing right in front of him, Jack gave a girly scream of terror and dropped all the parts in his arms. One landing on his foot, causing him to scream again, but also jump on his good foot and clutch the one that he just crushed. The monks all laughed as Jack hollered out in pain as he jumped around.

"What do you say guys, you wanna beat the crap out of Jack now or give him a head start?" Kimiko smiled evilly and cracked her knuckled as the guys nodded at her no brainer suggestion. Jack stumbled over and landed on his butt and started to crawl back away from them all.

"Wait, wait, wait! You guys wouldn't do me ugly in front of an innocent young lady would you?" Jack desperately tried, but unsuccessfully, begged.

"I have no problem kicking your ass Jack, that's why I recommended it," Kimiko said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Kimiko, you may be a young lady but even I know you are the farthest thing from innocent." Jack stated starting to stand up and dust himself off. "I was referring to your new pretty bird," Jack gestured with a gentlemen like arm behind them to Franciscka.

Franciscka's face started to turn a bit pink from both embarrassment and rage. Rai took a step back, knowing what was coming. The others followed suit and stepped away from the fuming Brazilian girl, fearing she'll explode, along with anyone around her. As she gave a mild growl, Franciscka stomped forward and planted her foot into the one of Jack's that harshly met metal less then a minute ago. Jack once again cried out in pain as he clutched his foot again. "I thought I already made it clear to you," Franciscka poked Jack's forehead hard, reminding him of the rock she threw. "no one calls me 'pretty bird.'"

"Pretty, feisty, and bold," Jack states, unclenching his foot and standing up straighter to look at her better; also giving a double eye brow raise and fall with a little hum in his throat. Rai could see where Jack was trying to go with this and stepped between them, pushing Jack away and almost falling to the ground again.

"Back off Spicer! She's spoken for," Rai practically spat in Jack's face. Kimiko's heart skipped a beat. She didn't expect Rai to say that, especially in the way he said it. He sounded so angry towards Jack and protective of her. He usually only did that for her. But now that she's here, he does it for the other girl too. Or maybe just for that girl now.

"Whatever," Jack huffed, activating his hover pack and flying away.

"Well, now that the spiky haired albino is gone and we got your Wu, who wants to go check out a cafe?" Franciscka exclaimed the last part excitedly, pointing to the town by the field.

* * *

**Working on next chapter now. Later Players! Please Review**


	5. Chapter 5

**I am SOOOO sorry I haven't updated this in so long. I've been on a HTTYD high pretty much all summer because of the sequel. The movie was AMAZING and I had to write two fan fictions on them. I started one of them before I saw the movie but I wanted to finish it before I got back into Xiaolin Showdown, and then I had to write a bonus chapter for it because I had the idea and everyone was asking for it. But now those are done and I've been getting back into Xiaolin Showdown by rewatching the episodes and rereading some of my favorite fan fictions of them.**

**And now I finally finished this next chapter and starting the next one; Enjoy!**

* * *

_One week later (Three weeks till the contest):_

Raimundo and Franciscka had been practicing their dance for the contest all week. Since dancing takes a lot of energy and practice to perfect; much like ti chi, Master Fung agreed that Rai could leave half way through their training every day to practice with Franciscka. Although dancing with his old friend made him happy, reminding him of the fun they had preparing for their last competition, every day when he would practice with her, Kimiko would walk by on her way through the temple and watch them for a bit. Rai had no problem being watched while he practiced dancing or ti chi, Clay, Omi and Dojo even stopped by to watch every once in a while too. But Kimiko never stuck around too long, only glancing as she walked by on her way somewhere else. And even with those quick glimpses, her eyes were hard even when Rai had his back to her. And he knew she wasn't watching, she was glaring. Or staring daggers at both of them, but mostly to him he could tell. Not only that, but ever since their last Wu hunt in Cuba, Kimiko has been doing her best to avoid talking to or even looking Rai in the eyes. When he tries talking to her at meals, she gives a short answer with an even quicker look and goes back to her food. Rai had never seen his best friend so upset. And she wasn't just upset, she was upset with him. He could tell, he could only guess why. If he really wanted to know he would have to ask her himself.

* * *

Raimundo and Franciscka finished practicing for the day and were on their way to dinner. Kimiko watched from behind a corner as they walked together, she saw they were laughing but she couldn't hear what they were saying from the distance.

Franciscka obviously said something of a 'be back in a minute' way and walked back in the opposite direction of the kitchen as Rai made his way there for dinner. Kimiko also saw the Brazilian girl pull her cell phone out of her pocket as she turned a corner back to the training yard.

Kimiko didn't think the new girl meant any harm, but she was still curious of who she would be talking to in secret. Kimiko quietly followed her to the porch by the training yard and she was already in the middle of a conversation on her cell. The raven haired girl quickly moved closer and hid behind a potted plant. Hidden enough to not be found out, but close enough to hear.

"Yeah, I'm fine. China is so beautiful. Oh, I wish you could be here too, I miss you so much," Franciscka said happily into her phone. There was a pause as the other person on the line responded. "Rai's been good…It's coming together great. We're doing the Cha Cha Cha…...Yeah I love it too…..…No we're not, silly. You're the only guy for me and I love you…...I know, so are you…...Okay…. Yeah sure course," Franciscka continued talking. Kimiko didn't know what to think. Franciscka loved someone else? Did Rai know? If he likes her so much, how would he feel about this? With all these questions in her mind and without paying any attention to the rest of the tan girl's conversation, Kimiko slowly snuck away from her hiding place and made her way back to the kitchen.

All the guys had already started eating by the time Kimiko came in. She said nothing as she crossed the room to the counter to pore herself some water. Rai looked up from his plate to see her back facing him and the others.

"Hey Kim, you're a little late but I saved you the last egg roll," Rai said over as he held out a plate with said egg roll and a few other foods she normally takes at dinner. Kimiko turned back with her water to see the plate and smiled. Rai always knows what she likes.

"Thanks Rai," Kimiko gladly took the plate and sat in the chair next to him and started to eat. Even after giving him the cold shoulder all week, Rai is still being a good friend. Kimiko felt bad about how she had been acting, but what if Rai really did have feelings for Franciscka. But where did that leave her? And what about that guy she was talking to?

"So where's Franciscka?" Kimiko already knew, but she had to see what Rai knew.

"Yeah, I made her favorite, peas and carrots," Clay said, gesturing to the bowl by the only empty seat at the table.

"She should be back here in a minute," Rai stopped to take a sip of water. Kimiko thought on this for a second. What is she hiding? But as Rai put his glass down and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, he continued. "She hasn't talked to Renny in forever." Everyone stopped eating and thinking to look confused at their leader.

"Renny?" Omi asked first.

"Oh, Reinaldo Ferraz. Her boyfriend," Kimiko almost choked on her own gasp and started coughing hard. Rai reached out to pat her back. "Kim you okay?" Rai asked worried she was choking. Kimiko quickly grabbed her water and swallowed a swig and that seemed to do it.

"I'm fine, just a little something in my throat," Kimiko reassured threw her hacking, smiling back at her best friend before taking another sip of water, still sinking the new information in.

"Anyway, Franny never mentioned she had a boyfriend," Clay said, bringing the last topic back to the table.

"I know, I could have said something too but we've been busy. And for your own protection guys, never call her Franny." Rai half joked but was an actual warning. Clay and Omi chuckled a bit but understood, "you got that too Kim?" Rai turned his head back to the Dragon of Fire next to him who was just staring blankly into her water glass in her hands on the table in front of her. Clearly she was deep in thought. "Kim? Kimiko?" Rai frowned and gave her shoulder a light shove. Kimiko snapped her attention back to Rai.

"Oh yeah, just Franciscka, got it" as quickly as she said this, Kimiko looked back to her water. But Raimundo knew better. He knew something had been bothering her. Now was the time to ask. Rai put his hand back on her shoulder.

"Kim, I know you got something on your mind, what is it?" Rai asked concerned from how she'd been acting the past few days. Kimiko sighed and looked back to her leader and best friend. Rai dropped his hand as she started to talk again.

"Well it's just," she paused and gave one more sigh, thinking exactly how to word this. "you and her are just friends right?" Rai seemed surprised by this question. Clay and Omi were as well (yeah, they're still in the room).

"Well yeah. I just said she has a boyfriend who's not me. He lives back in Sao Paulo. Besides I don't like her like that." Rai replied like it was obvious, thinking Kimiko forgot what he just told them from all her coughing.

"But does she like you like that?" Rai was taken aback by this. Was this what's been bothering her all week? "I mean, she came all this way for you, even though she has a boyfriend," Kimiko let go of her water and turned fully to Raimundo. Now Rai was just confused.

"What does her wanting me to be her partner have to do with her boyfriend?" Rai asked back, slightly annoyed of his best friend's accusations.

"Isn't Renny a dancer too? I'd assume that she would want to be dating someone who likes dancing as much as she does." Clay and Omi even thought on that for a moment and agreed; in their own minds.

"Renny does like dancing but I don't think you understand," Rai tried to explain, now with a slightly better understanding of what she thinks.

"What don't I understand? Does he have stage fright or something?"

"Renny can't walk," everyone turned their heads to the doorway to see the statement came from Franciscka. And she wasn't smiling. "His legs are paralyzed and he's in a wheel chair." Kimiko knew there was something more to this arrangement with the two Brazilians, but she couldn't have guessed something like that. The Brazilian girl in dance tights and flats took about five steps into the kitchen and grabbed a vitamin water from the counter before turning back to the table. "Thank you, Clay, for the peas and carrots but I'm not hungry," Franciscka said blankly to the cowboy at the table before walking back out.

Raimundo immediately stood up to follow her but Kimiko stood faster and stopped him. "Rai, you're not the one who needs to smooth things over." And with that, the Dragon of Fire left the kitchen to follow the Brazilian dancer.

* * *

Kimiko didn't exactly know where Franciscka went, but she did know that when she needed a place to think and/or be alone, she goes to the porch by the gardens. And apparently, so does Franciscka. There she was, leaning over the railing, sipping her passion fruit vitamin water. She didn't even seem to notice Kimiko as she walked over to her.

"Hey," Kimiko said softly. Franciscka looked back as Kimiko offered a light smile.

"Evenin'," she said back with a quick smirk before taking another swig form her bottle and returning her eyes back to the garden. Kimiko placed her hands out on the rail and looked at the garden too.

"How much of that conversation did you hear exactly?"

"I heard you coughing but you stopped by the time I got to the door. Then Clay mentioned me having a boyfriend so I just stayed out and listened." Both girls kept their heads straight and eyes to the temple gardens as they spoke.

"Yeah, if I thought the guys were talking about me while they thought I wasn't around, I'd hide by the door and listen too," Kimiko joked and Franciscka giggled with her. As their laughing quickly faded, Kimiko looked back down at the tan girl, remembering what she had to do. "Look Franciscka, I'm sorry."

"For what?" Franciscka raised her head up too.

"Well, I haven't been all that nice to you since you got here and it was pretty much for no real reason," Kimiko admitted looking down at her feet.

"No, you had a reason." Franciscka replied, Kimiko was caught off guard by that and looked back to the other girl. "I mean I'd be pretty bitter towards someone who I thought was taking the guy I was crazy about away from me, even if I hardly knew her." Franciska smiled as she drank from her bottle again.

"Excess me?" Kimiko asked feeling annoyed but more embarrassed.

"Come on Kimiko, I see the way you look at him and how you act. That and you've been on edge pretty much ever since I got here," Franciscka said after swallowing, standing completely back up, fully facing Kimiko with her left hand still on the rail and her bottle in the other. Kimiko faced her too and sighed. No point in deigning it.

"Rai is my best friend. He's also my leader, but even before that he's always been there from me," she admitted looking back at her feet. Franciscka placed a comforting hand on Kimiko's shoulder. Kimiko raised her head to her again.

"It's okay, you don't need to explain, and I won't say anything," Franciscka offered Kimiko a smile and she smiled back.

"But seriously, you and Rai…"

"…are just friends," Franciscka finished for her, removing her hand and placing it back on the railing.

"And Renny?"

"Kimiko, I knew him way before he lost use in his legs. Even before that he wasn't much of a dancer, but he loved watching me and I love him," Franciscka smiled dreamily, thinking about her beloved.

"That's sweet, he must be a really nice guy."

"He is, just ask Raimundo," Franciscka said, before taking another sip of her vitamin water.

"Rai knows him?" Kimiko asked. She only thought Rai knew _of _him.

"Of course. Renny came to the dance contest in Rio to support me. And he wanted to meet the guy dancing with his girlfriend," Franciscka laughed and Kimiko even giggled too before asking more questions.

"So you guys were together five years ago?"

"It was very early in our relationship as a couple, but yes."

"And he was in a wheel chair then?"

"Uh-Huh," Kimiko looked puzzled for a moment, Franciscka saw this and gave a small chuckle under her breath. "It's okay, a lot of people think it's out of the norm for…"

"No, I don't think that," Kimiko cut her off, thinking she was getting the wrong idea that she thought their relationship was so weird. "I just fine it a little… ironic?" Kimiko shrugged, hoping she didn't word that wrong and offend her. But Franciscka smiled and gave another small chuckle.

"Rai thought so too," Franciscka lightly punched Kimiko's shoulder to show she understood. Kimiko smiled at that too. But the question was still buzzing in her mind.

"But still, you're a dancer. I just thought maybe you would prefer to date someone you could dance with," Kimiko said while Franciscka screwed the cap back on her half full bottle. Franciscka had been over this with Renny when they just started dating. If Renny thought this, it made cents for other people to think that. Franciscka sighed, walked up to Kimiko's so both their left shoulders were in front of the other, and said what she told Rai when he asked her that same question five years ago.

"Well Kimiko, most of the time it's not enough to be a good dancer or just a dancer period." Kimiko turned a bit more towards her in confusion. Franciscka turned to her and placed her hand back on Kimiko's shoulder as she finished. "the main point is having the right partner," And with that, Franciscka removed her hand and took a few steps back the way they came before turning back to Kimiko who had turned back to look at her. "You know what, I think I actually am hungry." Kimiko smiled as she caught up to the Brazilian girl and walked with her down the porch. Franciscka lightly elbowed Kimiko to regain her attention. "Oh and by the way, Rai was wise on that warning about my name." The two girls laughed as they happily made their way back to the kitchen.

* * *

**Again, sorry this took so long. It took me forever to think this through and word it the way I wanted.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I am SOOOO ashamed! I haven't updated this in about a year. But since that year was up just a few days ago, I promised myself I would post the next chapter at least before the month was over. (Also, I go back to school when the month is over, so I wanted to not worry about this while starting my second year of college)**

**P.S. - I did some editing on the other chapters, so if you feel up to it (maybe to refresh your memory of the story because it's been so long), go back to the beginning and reread. ;) **

* * *

_One week later (Two weeks till the contest):_

After the settlement between the only two females in the Xiaolin temple, Franciscka and Kimiko have been getting along fairly well. Franciscka's guest room was right across the hall from Kimiko's, but Kimiko's was bigger so they hung out in there. As it turned out, Franciscka loves shopping and hair dye too. They'd spend most of their free time in Kimiko's room looking at clothes and shoes online, talking, having a few laughs, and experimenting with new hair styles and colors. Every night, the two of them would show up to dinner with their hair done differently by the other. Although, Franciska preferred only highlighting her ends and in small bunches of her light brown hair instead of coloring all her hair like Kimiko usually does.

Not only that, but Kimiko also found out that Franciscka came from a fairly wealthy family back in Sao Paulo. Not exactly as wealthy as the Tohomiko family but almost as just. The Barros family owned a few of the finest airlines in South America. So when they did online shopping, neither of them needed to worry too much on their spending.

Kimiko also found herself attending more of and enjoying Franciscka and Rai's dance practice sessions. Their routine of the Cha Cha Cha was coming together quite nicely.

* * *

It was a quiet evening in the temple, and the girls were doing what they have been doing every night for the past week. Although what they were searching for was more specific this time; namely, Franciscka's dress for the contest.

"I think you'd look great in this one," Kimiko said, pointing to a beautiful teal dress on her computer screen. Franciscka was laying on Kimiko's bed mate with an open fashion magazine on ball room outfits. Franciscka sat up to look over Kimiko's shoulder to see the dress on the screen.

"That one's nice, but I wore that colored dress at the contest five years ago," she said after looking at the image, studying it carefully. Kimiko did a double take at the image and realized she was right.

"Oh yeah, your right," Kimiko replied. She knew Franciscka needed a completely new dress for this contest. Kimiko scrolled down on the site page until another dress caught her eye. "What about this one," Franciscka looked back at the screen to see a fairly similar styled dress, only red. It was a beautiful dress; rose red at the top and darkened to almost black only an inch or two from the bottom helm just below the knees, a wavy spit up the left leg part of the skirt, straps made to wrapped around the back of the neck to support, and an opened back.

"Oh, now that is a dancers ball gown," Franciscka smiled wide-eyed at the image.

"Awesome. Should we order it?" Kimiko asked.

The Brazilian girl wanted to say yes, the dress was perfect for an event like what she had coming. "Uh… not yet. I want to keep looking, but save that one as a top choice," she told her new friend.

"Alright, it's your dress. I'm just here to offer a second opinion," Kimiko laughed as she marked the dress under her favorites so they could consider it later. A few minutes later, Kimiko sighed and stood up to stretch before turning to her new friend. "I don't know about you, but I'm in the mood for some tea."

"Dido," Franciscka replied. Kimiko left the room to return with a fresh pot of tea and two cups. And once she was alone in the Dragon of Fire's bedroom, Franciscka grabbed the girl's laptop and re-opened the last image saved to her favorites. She stared at it thinking deeply. Maybe it is the perfect dress for a lovely dancer, but that specific lovely dancer wasn't her.

* * *

Kimiko had the full tea pot and the cups on a tray and had just walked out of the kitchen.

"Yeah, Franciscka and I are doing great on our dance…" Kimiko paused before passing by a hallway that lead to a dead end, on the way back to her room. She stopped at the corner of the hall from hearing an all too familiar voice. The Dragon of Fire poked her head from around the corner and saw Rai, his back mostly to her, on his cell phone. He stopped speaking on his side, so obviously he was listening to whoever was on the other line talking back.

"Yes I do, mam-ma!" Rai practically shouted slightly annoyed into the small device, but still tried to be quiet enough to not let anyone else around on his end hear. But Kimiko heard.

Kimiko pulled her head back into hiding. 'So Rai is talking to his mother,' Kimiko thought as she waited for Raimundo to speak again. 'Dang, is listening in on one half of people's phone conversations becoming a habit for me?' she sighed, but still stayed where she was. Rai still unaware on her presence.

"He shouldn't be doing that, he's gonna work himself into the ground… Mam-ma, I can get the money…" Rai said back, sounding worried and almost desperate. 'Money? Was his family having financial troubles?'

"Mam-ma, I'm still doing this. Even if we get third again it'll help…" 'He must be talking about the contest.' Kimiko peered her head around the corner again and saw Rai rub his free hand over his face as he listened to his mother speak on the other end; a troubled look on his face.

"She's not gonna do that again Mam-ma! It's just not fair…" Rai said, still sounding as troubled as he looked. Looking closer, Kimiko realized that it was similar to the looks she saw on him when he talked about the last contest he and Franciscka were in. The upset looks, anyway.

"Yes Mam-ma… Okay, I'll see you next week. But tell papa to stop with the double-shifts. He's doing to be too beat to party with the rest of us… Eu tambem te amo. Adeus." And with that, Raimundo hung up. "Your tea is going cold."

Kimiko jumped. Rai knew she was there.

"How'd you know?" Kimiko said, hanging her head slightly embarrassed for both eavesdropping and being caught as she walked into the hallway, up to her leader.

"New little trick with my powers the Fung-man taught me. I can literally 'feel it' in the air if something or someone comes around me or moves."

"So you knew I was there the whole time," Kimiko set her tray down on top of a vase in the hall, too ashamed to look at Rai at the moment.

"Actually no." This caught Kimiko by surprise. Forgetting her embarrassment for now, the Dragon of Fire quickly turned back to the Shoku warrior as he continued. "If I knew the whole time, I would have picked my words more carefully," Rai explained as he placed his cell phone back into his robes. "I was too caught-up talking to mam-ma to notice the change in the air. I didn't think about it until she was talking about me coming home before the contest."

"So as soon as you knew, you wrapped up the call," Kimiko summed up and Rai simply nodded before looking away himself, like he was the one ashamed. "This contest isn't just about Carnavale, is it," Kimiko said more then asked.

Rai inhaled deeply through his nose while rubbing a hand over his face before looking back to his best friend with his arms crossed in front of him. "A few weeks back, that morning before Franciscka showed up, I told you guys I got a call from my mom about the contest," Kimiko nodded, encouraging him to continue. "Well, I actually already knew about the contest before then. I got an e-mail about it from a friend back in Rio a day or two before. That morning, what my mom really told me was that my sister Larissa got into the university she wanted."

"That's great. Good for her," Kimiko smiled.

"I know, that's what I said," Rai smiled small for a moment then went right back to his troubled face. "But then that lead to mom mentioning something about her college tuition, and then something about dad working extra hours at the plan, and that's when I remembered the contest and the prize money and…" Rai stopped himself without finishing his sentence, but Kimiko understood where he was going.

"Wait, you also said your mom told you Franciscka came by your house looking for you," Kimiko questioned him further.

"Yeah, that was a lie too," Rai admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "After I was done talking to mom, I immediately called Franciscka. I just knew that there couldn't be a dance contest in Rio this big and she'd not know about it. And sure enough, when I called she said she was in Rio looking for a partner for the contest. After we were done talking I thought there was no way I could be in the contest with her and possibly win any money so I got mad and I… well, you know." Rai absentmindedly rubbed his left hand knuckles with his right as he said the last part of his sentence. He had removed the bandage sometime last week. It healed fine, but still left a few pink-ish marks that will eventually fade.

"So you lied to us because you didn't want us to know your family is tight on money?" Kimiko crossed her arms, a little offended her best friend/leader would lie to her, their master, and their friends. Rai looked down again in shame. He knew it wasn't wise to lie like that to the people who are supposed to trust him unconditionally. Master Fung had already spoken to Rai about it the night he brought Franciscka to the temple. When he had gone to Rio to seek Rai's old partner out, he learned her and Mrs. Pedrosa's side of the story and knew Rai had kept a few details from him and the other Chosen Ones. Master Fung told him he was slightly disappointed in him for lying and that needing a little help with something like money was nothing to be ashamed of. But he also said he would say nothing to the others about it unless Rai wanted to. Franciscka and Dojo promised the same.

Kimiko could see the self-loathing look on Rai's face and knew he was already disappointed in himself. Her expression softened. "I'm sorry Rai." Kimiko was so wrong before. The contest isn't about dancing with Franciscka or wining that spot on top of a Carnavale float. Rai just wants to win money to help out his family.

"The prize money for the top three pares are bigger then the last contests' by a lot. Just winning third would help my family a great deal."

"And now you can. She's here and you guys will be competing for a cash prize in two weeks," Kimiko reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Rai looked at her, seeing her smiling face. "Rai, what did Franciscka do five years ago?"

"What do you mean?" Rai took a small step back, dragging Kimiko's hand off his shoulder.

"You said 'she's not gonna do that again mam-ma!' You were talking about her, weren't you?" Kimiko knew Rai knew where she was going with the question before she was more specific. This must be the part of the contest five years ago he didn't feel comfortable talking about. Rai sighed with a big heave of his shoulders, crossed his arms again before explaining.

"When Franciscka and I first became partners, we agreed that if we won any prize money we would split it right down the middle, but she wanted to be the one to take home the trophy, and I let her. After we won third, we cashed the money and split it 50-50 right before she was supposed to leave and go back home to Sao Paulo. But right before she got into her car to take her to the airport, she turned around, offered me her half of the prize money and said she wanted me to have it."

Kimiko raised an eyebrow at this. She remembered one of her and Franciscka's nightly hang-outs where she talked about how she loved being in dance contests just for dancing of stage and possibly winning a trophy. Said it was her dream to be a professional dancer. During the summers, her parents would let her travel certain places for dance contests around the world. They always made sure their daughter was well looked after when she traveled; always from their airlines. But Rio was where they always felt she was the most safe staying at. Mr. Barros had a sister who lives in Rio de Janeiro, so Franciscka stayed with her at her house when she came to Rio. Her aunt was fine with her staying here at the temple since it was the only way she could be Raimundo's partner. But she didn't care about the cash prizes, mainly because her family was so well off. So Kimiko understood why Franciscka did that.

"I was surprised but I was also not so surprised she would do that. I immediately told her no and that she deserved half the money we won, but she was insistent and kept arguing with me to take it. But I didn't budge. Then after about twenty minutes of her trying to convince me she didn't need the money as much as I apparently did, Franciscka's driver said she was going to be late for her flight if they didn't leave soon. And that's when she just caved and said she would take the money home with her. So we hugged, said good-bye again and she left."

"I gave my $1,250 to my parents and told them to put it away for a rainy day and they said they were proud of me. Then about a week later, I get a letter in the mail from Sao Paulo. I open the envelope, and there's a short letter and folded within that letter was $1,250 in cash." Rai clenched his fists for a moment, looking at the floor. "I was so mad for a minute, but I decided to read the letter anyway. It was short but it basically said 'I earned this money, so it's mine to do whatever I want with. And I want your family to have it. If you try to send this back to me, I will just send it right back to you every time. –Love, Franciscka B.' I didn't really know what to do about it at the time, so I showed my parents and they said she had a point about it being her money she earned and I helped her earn it, so if she wants me to have her half, I shouldn't turn down her generosity. So I just gave the rest of the money to my parents, but I still wasn't happy about it."

When Rai was finished with his story, he dropped his arms as if they were made of lead and slumped against the side wall. Kimiko looked at her best friend. He really wasn't happy about what Franciscka did five years ago. All Rai wanted was to be in the contest, and then only his fair share in whatever reward they may have received. But the fact still remained that he lied to her, and she also wasn't happy about that.

But then another thought occurred to her.

"Wait a second, if you were so mad at her, they why were you two so buddy-buddy and happy to see each other when she first got here?" Kimiko asked.

"Well that was five years ago." Rai shrugged. "And like I told you guys, we exchanged e-mails after she got home. She tried to apologize but I just told her 'what's done is done' and we should just move on, and we agreed to not talk about it again."

"So you were mad at Franciscka for giving you her half of the third place prize money from that contest?" Kimiko summed up, not completely understanding why that made Rai so upset. Rai groaned in frustration, stood up straight, facing Kimiko directly.

"It wasn't fair! I mean, I know she doesn't need the money. You know her family is more than well off. But still, we made a deal, and I didn't want her…" Rai paused, unable to finish his sentence again.

"What? You didn't want her what?"

"Charity," Rai said quietly. Kimiko was surprised by his word choice.

"Rai, you're her friend, not a charity case."

"Oh I'm not?" Rai turned his head back to her sharply. "Kim, that's exactly what she does with prize money she wins in her other dance contests. She enters and tries to win for just being in them and winning a trophy. Any cash prizes she wins, she donates the money to different charities in the area. And it's great that she does that, but my family isn't one of them."

"Rai, you know that's not how she sees you. You worked hard for that money."

"No I didn't. Franciscka was the one who scrapped me off the street of Tubarao and taught me how to Salsa so we could compete. She did most of the work and still gave me all the money."

"Why do you do that Rai?" Kimiko slightly raised her voice. Rai stopped to let her speak at the sight of her annoyed face. "From what I'm hearing, you look at yourself and see someone not worth a helping hand or some friendly gesture. Back then, you said she saw you dancing on the streets with your friends and thought you had potential, that's why she asked you to be her partner and taught you how to dance. She had a feeling teaching you would be worth it. Just like how Master Fung saw potential in you too. That's why you're here. He brought you here and you became our Shoku Dragon of the Wind." Kimiko turned sharply on her heels, grabbing her tea tray off the vase. "You are worth it Rai. And there's nothing wrong with other people caring."

And with that, Kimiko headed back to her room. Leaving Rai… in a word; _astounded_.

Master Fung had said something very similar to him two weeks ago, and he understood what he was trying to tell him. But how Kimiko said it just now made him think; _'Kimiko only ever gives me these special talks. Does that make me special in her eyes?'_ And it hit him. _'She must really care.'_

And the Dragon of the Wind walked back to his room as well, with a smiled.

* * *

**A/N: I believed the monks were roughly 11-13 years old at the beginning of the series, so now, they are about 15-17 years old in this story. **

**Again, really sorry for the neglect. This is my only Xiaolin Showdown fanfic so I do want to finish it. I know what's supposed to happen next and sorta how it ends. I might not update again for awhile (hopefully not a whole year again), but I will not abandon this story!**

**So stay tuned! Or more like stay favorited! ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Wow, I haven't updated this in almost a year. AGAIN!**

**I wasn't really thinking about this story or even this fandom when I decided to come back to this and write another chapter or two, but because it was coming up to almost a year since I last updated this, I thought I should because I didn't want to neglect this story. So I tried to get my brain back into the fandom by rewatching episodes of the show, reading my old favorite fanfics of the show (even some new ones), and looking at it's fan art. But now I understand that I shouldn't push my creativity if my brain isn't thinking in that area.**

**Just like what BeyondtheClouds777 said in her explanation on why she isn't going to be posting anymore of her 'Race to the Edge B Seasons' (love them, love her work). She said, and I quote: **

_**"It's just really hard to write in a fandom I'm being drawn out of, and I don't want to force myself to write, because if I do that, everything I attempt will be mediocre, and you guys don't deserve that."**_

**Plus, forcing it takes most of the enjoyment of writing from the writer.**

**She said she may come back to it if/when she gets back into the fandom, but even she doesn't know when that will be. So I am not going to force myself anymore.**

***Little warning; because I wanted to spice this up with more love, I wrote in a bit of bold actions for our couples of this story. Most likely will be carried on with future chapters.**

* * *

_Five days later (9 days till the contest):_

Raimundo was in his cubicle, packing a bag for their trip. His family wanted him to come home and celebrate the upcoming celebration of Carnavale with them, and invited Franciscka and the other monks to come as well. The parade was just the day after the contest after all. This was okay with Master Fung, provided that Dojo accompanies them in case a Shen Gong Wu goes active while they're gone. And they bring a few Wu and their Wudai weapons to defend themselves if they are attacked by the Heylin.

After strapping all their bags to Dojo's back and waving good bye to Master Fung, the five young adults were up in the air, heading for Brazil. Seeing the error in the last time she rode on the dragon with the others, Franciscka took her seat behind Raimundo instead of in between him and Kimiko.

"You guys are going to love Rio," Rai told his friends as they flew. "It's always sunny, there's a lot of fun places to hang, and my ma is the best cook," he boasted with a grin, excited to see his home again.

"So will we be staying at your home Raimundo?" Omi asked from up front.

"Yup. I mean, I have a big family but don't worry, we've got plenty of room," he reassured them.

"So who exactly are we meeting when we land?" Clay asked from the back, behind Franciscka.

"Well, first off my parents, then there's my five younger siblings, my older sister Larissa," Rai listed off with his fingers. "Oh, and my grandmother Gloria," he added.

"That is a big family," Omi marveled.

"That's just the people that live in my house Omi," Rai chuckled. "My aunts, uncles, cousins, other grandparents, and my oldest siblings will be coming for our little party at the house the day before Carnavale," he told them. Everyone all cheered, liking the sound of the party before the parade.

But then I thought occurred to the girl in front of Raimundo. "But Rai, isn't the dance contest the day before Carnavale?"

"Ah, you are correct my dear Dragon of Fire," Rai said playfully, earning a light chuckle from both females on the dragon with them. "Which is why everyone is going to meet us at the house and they will all be coming to watch the contest. Then afterwards, we will celebrate the coming of Carnavale back at the house for the rest of the evening," he explained happily.

"That and we'll also celebrate any victory we may win," Franciscka added.

"Also true," Rai said to her, turning slightly to fist bump his partner. Kimiko watched this with a smile, happy the two were prepared to do their best to win, and no longer fearing she was at risk of losing Rai. She knew Franciscka. They were actually very good friends now, and she knew this girl was already in love with another, so she had nothing to be jealous of.

* * *

About an hour of flying later, Dojo and the young adults finally arrived in the skies of Rio de Janeiro. Remembering the place from a few weeks ago, Dojo flew to a small town just at the edge of the city.

"Welcome to Tubarao guys," Rai said as Dojo flew lower. They continued to glide just over the roofs of hut-like, slightly run-down houses and shops until they approached a small hill that overlooked a majority of the town. A some-what large, but old looking house standing tall.

Dojo landed not far from the yard and everyone leapt off before quickly unhooking their luggage from the dragon's flank so he could shrink. No sooner than after the dragon was his small self, the front door of the house burst open, followed by five kids running out to them.

"Rai!" They all shouted. Raimundo ran halfway to meet them. One girl, who looked to be the oldest out of the other kids met Rai first and hugged him, and the other four latched onto him in any way they could manage in a big group hug.

"We missed you, you big goofball."

"How's China?"

"Where else in the world have you been to?"

"Did you bring us any souvenirs?" All the kids asked Rai while he chuckled and tried to get them off him so he could make some introductions.

Raimundo faced his friends. "Guys, this is Isabelle, she's fourteen," he said, giving the oldest of the kids a pat on the head. "Fernando, he's ten," he pat the oldest boy among them. "The twins, Paulo and Patricia, seven," he pat the boy and girl that looked identical with both his hands at the same time.

"But I'm older by five minutes," the girl, Patricia, bragged. Her twin quickly stuck his tongue out at her.

Raimudo chuckled before feeling something tug on his pant leg. Rai looked down and saw his youngest brother, his little hands clutching onto his jeans. Rai smiled fondly and stooped down to pick the little boy up. "And little Andre, four years old," he introduced as Andre looked at all of the new comers with his big brown eyes, his thumb in his mouth, before quickly hiding his face away in Raimundo's neck. A majority of the girls in the group 'awed' at this, including Kimiko. She remembered Rai saying that his mother was still pregnant not long after arriving at the temple for the first time. She knew how Rai could be caring as a leader, but now she gets to see how caring of a brother he can be. She didn't know why exactly, but she was excited to see that.

Kimiko then saw three more people walking out of the front door and over to them. One was a girl who looked a bit older then her, and the other two were an older man and women. She assumed they must be Mr. and Mrs. Pedrosa.

"Raimundo!" the women exclaimed joyfully. Rai handed Andre over to the older girl beside the women before letting the women crush him in a motherly hug.

"Hi Mam-ma," Rai mumbled into her shoulder. They pulled away after a minute, then the man stepped in and hugged Rai.

"Good to have you home son," the man said after the hug ended.

"Good to be home again," he said to his parents. "Family, these are my friends from the Xiaolin Temple," he said, gesturing back behind him to his friends. "Omi, Clay, and Kimiko," he named off as he pointed to them, each giving their own greeting. "And you all remember Franciscka," he gestured to the last girl, also saying hello.

Mrs. Pedrosa stepped passed her son and started hugging the monks one by one. "It's nice to finally meet you all," she said before finally hugging Franciscka, happy to also see her again. "Now, grab your things and follow me inside," she told the group. Everyone grabbed a bag, some of Rai's family helping, and headed inside the house. The living room was the first room through the front door, a staircase to the left, a hallway under the stairs, a kitchen passed the living room toward the back of the house, followed by a back door that lead to a patio. "Up this way," Mrs. Pedrosa said, directing them towards the stairs.

Kimiko was about to follow, but stopped when she saw Raimundo change directions from the stairs to the patio door. With just her purse over her shoulder, Kimiko took a few steps forward, trying to see passed the wall and through the screen door. And as Rai walked through it, she watched as an elderly women stood up from a chair on the patio, with Rai's help, and the two hugged.

"That's my mother, Gloria," Mr. Pedrosa said from beside the female monk. Kimiko snapped her head to the older man. "She moved in with us when my father passed away six years ago," he told her gently.

"I'm sorry," Kimiko said.

Mr. Pedrosa just smiled and placed a gently hand on her shoulder. "Go on upstairs, put your bag down, settle in." Kimiko smiled and gave a nod before walking back to the stairs.

Once she was upstairs, she saw a long hall with several doors. There was walking space on both sides of the stairs and doors all along the walls. Some of them were opened and she saw a few of Rai's siblings inside, playing.

"Hey," a voice snapped her out of her looking. Kimiko turned and saw it was the older daughter that came out with Rai's parents. "You'll be staying with me," she said, gesturing for Kim to follow her further down the hall. Kimiko followed as she opened a door and walked inside. It was clearly an older girl's bedroom, but with two beds. One half of the room was decorated with pictures and posters, with a colorful bed spread. The other side had blank walls and no personal trinkets on any of the furniture. The second bed was made up, but with plainer sheets and blankets. Her other bags had been placed on top and on the floor beside it.

"You're Larissa, right?" Kimiko asked, placing her purse down as well.

"Yeah. Rai tell you about me?" the older girl replied.

"Are you the oldest?"

"Oldest in the house," she kindly corrected. "Our oldest sister Caroline moved out last year and moved into an apartment in Rio with her boyfriend Miguel. She's twenty-one. She used to share this room with me," she explained, nodding to the opposite side she was on, where Kimiko stood. "And the oldest of us all is Emilio; twenty-five. He moved out three year ago after he got married. He lives in the city too, with his wife Marissa and their little girl Bia."

"Rai's an uncle?" Kimiko asked, almost flabbergasted.

"You sound surprised," Larissa raised a brow.

"Well Rai never mentioned it," Kimiko shrugged.

"Well she's only two years old. I mean, we called Rai and told him but he hasn't met her in person yet," she explained. Kimiko was silent after that. Rai hadn't even met his own first niece yet? "I'll let you get unpacked. Make yourself at home," she said kindly before walking out and closing the door behind her.

* * *

Kimiko spent the next hour unpacking all her clothes and electronics. And thinking.

She never realized how much one can miss out on their family while away for as long as they have. True, she remembers Raimundo leaving to visit his family a few times over the years. As did she and Clay. Kimiko missed her papa all the time, but Raimundo had a big family. A lot more people to keep up with. More people to miss.

After she was satisfied with her settling, Kimiko walked out of the room and back down the stairs. Rai, Omi, Franciscka, and Rai's younger siblings were all seated in the living room.

"Kim, there you are. Come on over," Rai said, turning from where he sat on the couch, Andre in his lap. Kimiko smiled and walked over, sitting on the couch next to Raimundo. "Clay wanted to help mom in the kitchen. Dinner will be really soon," he told her. Kimiko just smiled at her best friend, then looked to the little boy in his lap, giving him a smile as well. "Can you say hi to Kimiko, Andre?" Rai softly asked his little brother. Andre turned and looked at the black haired girl on the couch with him and his brother, smiling at him.

"Hi," the little boy said in a small voice.

"Hi Andre," Kimiko said sweetly. Andre looked at Kimiko for an extra few seconds, then proceeded to climb off of Raimundo's lap, crawl over to the next couch cushion, and laid his head on Kimiko's lap, closing his eyes.

Isabelle and Patricia chuckled behind their hands. Fernando and Paulo rolled their eyes, but with amused smirks. Omi and Franciscka just watched with quiet 'aw's under their breath. Raimundo chuckled too, looking back from his youngest brother's peaceful face to Kimiko's shocked, but not displeased face.

"You don't mind, do you?" Raimundo asked honestly, but still smiling amused.

"No, not at all," Kimiko waved off. "I just thought he was shy."

"Oh, he is, but he warms up to new people pretty fast. Especially if he knows they are close friends to family members," he explained. "And especially girls," he chuckled again.

Kimiko chuckled herself, quietly as to not disturb the four year old trying to nap. "Is that so? Well I'm certainly warming up to him," she said playfully, placing a gentle hand on the boy's head, softly carding her fingers through her dark brown hair. Very similar to Rai's hair.

Raimundo watched with admiration as Kimiko stroked his youngest brother's hair. Kind, caring, gentle at the right times. She looked almost motherly. Realizing this warmed Raimundo's heart. Seeing Kimiko getting along nicely with his family. The Dragon of the Wind was however, snapped out of his lovely viewing when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Rai said, getting off the couch and going over to the front door on the other side of the room.

Kimiko, one hand still stroking Andre's hair, the other slowly rubbing his back, looked over to Franciscka on another chair. The girl from Sao Paulo gave the girl from Tokyo a smile, adoring the cute little picture she was painting in the Pedrosa's living room. She knew, out of all his older brothers, Raimundo was Andre's favorite. So any friend of Raimundos', Andre was gonna trust and want to curl up with in almost no time. Especially if his friend was a girl as pretty and kind as Kimiko.

"Franciscka," Rai called from the door. "You have a visitor," he said in a happy, sing-song tone.

Curious, Franciscka stood and walked around the couch Kimiko and Andre were on and made her way to the door. Rai stepped away from the door to reveal who he had just let in.

"Renny!" Franciscka squealed before sprinting to the teenage boy in the wheel chair just inside the door way. Kimiko turned in her seat to watch as Franciscka practically leaped into Renny's lap, sitting down with both her legs hanging off the right side on his legs, her arms wrapping around his neck, peppering his face with kisses. Renny held her close and kissed her back.

"I missed you so much," Renny said after the two pulled away to look at each other.

"Not as much as I missed you," the girl in his lap said before kissing him full on the lips, hungrily.

"Excuse me," Larissa said, entering the room from the kitchen. The two love birds stopped and looked at the older girl with a rag in her hands. "Mam-ma's busy in the kitchen, so she sent me out here to remind you two that there are children in this house," she said firmly, nodding her head toward their younger siblings, playing with Omi on the living room floor.

"Right, sorry," Franciscka apologized with a blush as she stood back up, only to lean forward and give her boyfriend one last kiss on the forehead. Larissa smirked at the two before walking back into the kitchen to help her mother and Clay cook.

Renny looked up to Raimundo and offered him a hand. "Good to see you again Rai," he smiled.

"You too," Rai said happily, shaking his hand. "You guys wanna stay for dinner?" he asked after letting go.

"Oh, well thanks, but…" Renny stuttered before looking to his girlfriend. "Franciscka, your aunt expects the both of us back at her place for dinner," he said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she was just going to call you but I wanted to come over here myself and meet your new friends," he said, taking her hand, smiling up at her. "Plus, I couldn't wait to see you." Franciscka smiled back down at him before looking over her shoulder at Kimiko, still trapped on the couch by Andre's head and Omi playing attentively with the rest of Rai's younger siblings. And Clay was busy helping with dinner.

"They're a bit occupied at the moment," she chuckled. "Why don't we all meet up tomorrow?"

"Sure. We could meet up in the city and show your friends around," Renny suggested to Raimundo.

"That sounds awesome," Rai agreed.

"Great. Well, we should go," Renny said before looking to Franciscka. Taking the hint, Franciscka walked around Renny and took the handles on the back of his wheel chair.

"See you tomorrow," Franciscka said to Rai, also looking back over to Kimiko. Kimiko looked back as well and gave her a quick wave.

"See you tomorrow," Rai said to the two as Franciscka pulled her boyfriend's wheel chair backwards and out the door. Raimundo looked out a window by the door and watched as Franciscka and a driver helped Renny into a car. Franciscka got in herself after him, and the driver closed the door for her before walking around, got into the driver's seat and drove down the hill.

"Raimundo," a stern female voice said from behind him. Rai turned and saw his mother standing in the door that connected the living room to the kitchen. "Help your sister sit the table," she told him.

"Yes Mam-ma," Raimundo nodded respectfully. The women smiled warmly at her son before going back into the kitchen.

On his way out of the room, Rai spared one last look to Kimiko, still on the couch with Andre's head in her lap. Still tenderly stroking his hair and rubbing his back. Andre's eyes were still closed as he sucked his thumb. Kimiko's eyes stayed on him, watching his steady breathing with care and a deep fondness.

He had never seen Andre look so peaceful. And he had never seen Kimiko look more beautiful.

* * *

Reinaldo laid on his back on his bed in the guess room of Franciscka's Aunt Clara's house in the city of Rio. Franciscka was on her side against him, half lying on top of him, making out feverishly, anxious after being apart for almost a full month.

Renny wore a plain white t-shirt and red pajama pants, Franciscka wore an adorable two piece pair of silky, sky blue pajamas. The blouse helm ending a few inches passed her waist, and pants that ended in the middle of her calves.

Franciscka's right fingers were locked lovingly in her boyfriend's hair, her other hand resting on his chest. Renny's hands ran constantly up and down Franciscka's back and sides, occasionally trailing lower to give her plump ass an affectionate squeeze. Resulting in a deeper moan from the young women above him each time.

After kissing for too long, the two parted for air, breathing heavily while looking into each other's eyes. Franciscka smiled before pecking her beloved's lips one more time, then pulled away, rolling over to sit up on the left side of the bed.

Renny watched his girlfriend give a heavy sigh as she weaved a hand through her hair.

"You okay?" he asked a bit concerned, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Yeah I'm fine," Franciscka sighed again. She looked over to Renny and he did not look convinced. "It's just… I don't know what to do about Rai," she admitted.

"Is he still ticked about last time?"

"I honestly don't know. He said not to bring it up ever again, but now it's like we can't even talk about what we're going to do about this contest," she admitted with frustration.

"You think he's just assuming it's the same old deal?" Renny asked, turning to lie on his side, facing his girlfriend.

"He's not going to agree to our old deal again. Whatever place we win, he knows I'm going to try and give him my half one way or another," she exasperated, flopping her head down onto the pillow behind her in frustration.

Franciscka rubbed her forehead, not knowing what to do. Renny started rubbing her arm to show a bit of comfort as he thought of how they could handle this.

"So make him a new deal."

* * *

**I have already written the next chapter and will post it in a few days. After that, I don't know when I'll come back to this. **


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